Personal Gain
Personal gain is the name referenced when a good magical being; namely a witch, uses his, her, or their (their meaning more than one being) powers for his, her, or their own profit. Magical beings that do risk suffering (and most likely always will) certain consequences; varying from easily losing any benefit gained to an innocent or another being getting killed. Consequently, when spells are cast for personal gain, they will mostly likely backfire. The Wiccan Rede "An it harm none, do what you will." The Wiccan Rede is the most simplest thus far pivotal principle of magical rules, which establishes that good witches cannot use their powers for their own personal gain, such as beauty or love spells. They are also not permitted to use magic for vengeful acts no matter if the person is truly guilty of an offense, as good witches are meant to "protect the innocent, not punish the guilty." If a good witch goes against the Wiccan Rede, he, she, or they will have to face equal repercussions: either/or by suffering a certain punishment, or the magic that had been used would backfire on its perspective user. An example of this is seen when Paige used magic to punish a man who had a habit of making sexist comments, but it resulted in her having enlarged breasts. It is also possible for witches to not suffer from any negative consequences, but instead, any benefits from their acts of personal gain would vanish. An example of this is seen when Phoebe tries to win the lottery after having a premonition of the results, only for the corresponding numbers to be erased from the ticket when the results were broadcast. After all, evil is already in offense of the Wiccan Rede and hence aren't entwined by any cases of morality, it is not insufficient by personal gain thereby granting the user to perform magic regardless of its intended purpose or desire.. Phoebe herself pointed that this was what made evil so tempting - the sensation of being able to do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, without the voice in the back of a mind holding the m back with signs of morality and the possible repercussions that could branch from their actions. Thus far, having Paige mention that was how Good and Evil were separated. Neutral Beings Personal Gain also stands in risks to neutral beings such as the Avatars or the Shadow Witches. Alpha attempted to dissuade Cole Turner when he used his new powers to create a alternate reality in a last ditch to get Phoebe back. In this reality he never got sent to the demonic wasteland, consequently becoming vulnerable and giving him the ability to be vanquishable. When Leo became an Avatar, he used the power of Chronokinesis accidentally and was warned by Alpha that he shouldn't use it again. Nonetheless, personal gain for Avatars or Shadow Witches is strongly discouraged because it weakens the collective magical power rather than a rule itself. Notes and Trivia * The rules of personal gain were featured more in earlier seasons of Charmed than in the latter, where the sisters started using magic more casually and it often went unpunished. Some cases could be viewed as bordering on harming mortals, such as Phoebe using a potion to turning a rival advice columnist into an animal on more than one occasion. A notable exception is in an episode of Charmed where Phoebe Halliwell loses her powers after using them largely for personal gain. * There are small instances of personal gain throughout the series of Charmed that had no punishment to follow up, mostly in the form of Piper freezing annoyances or Prudence (and later Paige) telekinetically moving objects in order to complete everyday efforts. These occurrences may have not oriented any repercussions since they were only minor offenses with little to no benefit. References # Personal gain - visit them for more. Category:DESTINED Category:Charmed Category:Book of Shadows